Stella's thougths on preschool

I should have posted this a while ago, so I will play catch up. My baby started preschool! She was so excited to start. This was taken the day befiore her first day with out me there.

Summer is over...according to the school calender

This was our second summer here in Mount Hermon. It was a good, good summer. I am sad to see its freedom go. We had such good times and made some sweet memories.

Here are some things that were memorable:

Sydney and Stella were transformed into fish. With the pool only a short hike through the redwoods, we tried to spend as much time as we could in the afternoons there. Unfortunately, this summer was not as hot as I remembered last summer, so we didn't go every afternoon like last summer.

Sydney learned how to swim under water. She swam and swam and swam. She LOVED being under water. She would dive in for underwater rings for 30 mins. Take a 20 second break and then be at it again.

Stella loved being in the water doing her own thing. She did not want to be held or swam around . She bobbed along the side, played on the steps and became the best ring thrower ever!

While we were on vacation in Northern California, both girls were able to go horse back riding. Sydney surprised us and hopped right on. Stella watched for a long time silently and rode the horse with out any hint of a smile.

I even was able to ride with both girls.  Craziest moment for me was dismounting the horse over its rump. scary.

 I think this little Cowgirl will want to come back for horse camp!

On this same vacation I was able to go rock climbing. It had been since Sydney was a mear 16 weeks in my belly that I had been climbing outdoors on real rock. I was due. It was one of the most beautiful spots and a great climb to get my hands dirty.

Nate and I were able to go on an amazing mountian bike ride in Lake Tahoe. It felt so good to be on some crazy single track.

We saw lots of snow this summer. And took some amazing hikes.

We had lots of great time with visiting family.

Just a little snip-it of why we love living here. So many other great things we did this summer. Kinda bummed I didn't do a better job blogging about it.

Watch out!

Family vacations RULE!!! More pictures to come.

Some phrase Stella has been saying that I don't want to forget.

Snow-fee  =  Snow white
Pee-no-no  =  Piano
pa-punzel  = Rapunzel

Monterey

On Sunday we drove to Monterey to bike along the coast trail. It is a fun easy little trail that goes for miles along the rocky, sandy beautiful coast.

 

We could have spent the whole day explore the tide pools, climbing on the rocks and finding shells. Stella would climb to the top and shout, "I am queen of the rock!".

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These little purple shells where every where. The ones in the water had fun little crabs in them. I made Stella almost jump out of her skin after she had a pocket full of these shells and I told her to remember to look inside to see if there is a little animal living inside before she puts it in her pocket. Luckily we were collecting them on the sand first.

Sydney loved climbing over all the rocks. She would point to a rock cropping and say, "lets go to the top".

Stella LOVED these dried pieces of seaweed. She pretended they were snakes around her neck. She had about three around her neck at one time. She thought they were so cool.

Just a little boat ride through the redwood forest. I am loving my girls imagination lately. They can make any atmosphere into a place of wonder and play. It is so fun to watch were their journeys take them. Who or what they become. What they find and what it turns into. Imagination is a good good thing.

Hope you are enjoying all the wonderful things of summer!